AEW's New Level Reveal WWE Pay Cut, New Rumors on Usos-Raw Censorship & Bronson Reed's Injury Rehab

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe and All Elite Wrestling.

New Level Reveal Info on WWE's Pay Cut Offer

The New Level provided some context this week to reports regarding WWE asking them to take a pay cut before they decided to depart the company.

During an appearance on the Ariel Helwani Show (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), Kofi revealed that WWE's pay cut proposal was even more significant than originally believed, saying, "I don't know what's out there, but yeah, I will say it was more than 50 percent. A lot of people don't know it was more."

Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live (h/t Carrier ) reported in May that WWE was approaching some talent and asking them to take 50 percent pay cuts.

Because of that, it was assumed Kofi and Austin Creed were in that camp as well, but Kofi's comments suggest WWE wanted them to give up an even bigger piece of the pie.

Rather than accepting the proposal, Kofi and Creed turned it down and left WWE, ending their hugely successful tenures as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, known collectively as New Day.

On Sunday, Kofi and Creed made their AEW debuts as the New Level at All In, winning the AEW World Trios Championships with Swerve Strickland.

Appearing on TMZ Sports' Inside The Ring (h/t Derek Holloway of Ringside News), Kofi and Creed divulged that the freedom given to them to pursue outside projects played a major role in them choosing to sign with AEW.

"There's a lot of things in there that are very, I guess, player-friendly, right," Kofi said. "Like wrestler-friendly, you know, in terms of being able to go out and do what it is that you want to do.

"There's not really a lot of restriction. And that's really exciting, you know, to know that if you have a passion, you can go out there and follow it without worrying about, you know, someone telling you that you can't do it for whatever reason."

Creed added, "It's a crazy feeling because we have so many ideas and so many things that we want to do and try and see if we're good at. So to be able to have, I guess, like the gates kind of open to allowing that space in your brain to get out and stretch its legs some, I think is going to be really fulfilling."

While seeing Kofi and Creed leave WWE after more than a decade of immense success together was disappointing for some wrestling fans, they have already hit the ground running in AEW and appear poised to enjoy a great run there as well.

Reported Reason for Blood Censorship on Raw

Netflix reportedly made the call to censor blood during Monday night's pre-taped episode of WWE Raw.

According to False Finish , Netflix decided to pixelate the bloodshed that resulted from Royce Keys and OTM's attack of The Usos "due to restrictions in several countries where the show is broadcasted."

On last week's Raw, Keys and OTM interrupted the main event that pitted The Usos against LA Knight and Solo Sikoa by attacking all four Superstars.

This week's Raw opened with Keys and OTM jumping The Usos in the parking lot, but fans watching on Netflix did not get to experience the full effects of the assault due to the censorship.

However, WWE head of creative Triple H later posted the uncensored version of the segment on X:

There was another angle later in the show that saw Keys and OTM go after Sikoa, and the blood was censored on that occasion as well.

While Netflix's actions were a source of frustration for many fans, it doesn't figure to be a regular occurrence.

It is relatively rare for WWE to tape episodes of Raw and SmackDown ahead of time, so the opportunities for Netflix to review an episode and make those types of changes will be few and far between.

There is little that can be done in terms of censorship when Raw is live, and that is indeed the case the vast majority of the time.

Bronson Reed Reportedly Expected to Return Soon

Bronson Reed has been out of action since February, but his return reportedly may be on the horizon.

According to PWInsider.com (h/t Geno Mrosko of Cageside Seats), Reed is now 100 percent healed from the torn biceps he suffered more than six months ago, and he is expected to be back on WWE programming within the next month.

Reed suffered the injury during a Triple Threat qualifying match for Elimination Chamber against Jey Uso and El Grande Americano.

All signs pointed toward Reed winning that match and then wreaking havoc in the chamber, but he was unable to continue due to the injury, and Uso came out on top.

Reed's injury came when Bron Breakker was already on the shelf, and although Breakker returned at WrestleMania, Logan Paul got injured in May.

The Vision has dealt with a string of bad injury luck, but with Reed's return on the horizon, the stable could be in line for a major shot in the arm.

At the same time, Reed's impending return could essentially serve as a reset or even a disintegration of the group should WWE decide to have him turn his back on The Vision and go off on his own.